Human rights must be respected anywhere

12.04.2018

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Sputniknews.kz, in a report entitled «Литовские пограничники грубо выдворили из страны казахстанскую семью» – «Lithuanian border guards rudely expelled the Kazakh family from the country» and published on 31 March 2017, said: «Adilya Yusupova was detained for 16 hours in a cell of the Vilnius airport with her husband and three children… And then they were expelled from the country».

Sputniknews.kz, in a report en­titled «Отзыв генконсула Литвы не связан с выдворением казах­станской семьи» – «The withd­rawal of the Lithuanian Consul Ge­ne­ral is not connected with the expulsion of the Kazakh family» and published on 5 June last year, said: «It has been reported earlier that Lithuanian Consul General in Almaty Ryagimantas Yablonskas was recalled in connection with information on non-transparent visa-related work.
«I can say with certainty that this (the recall of the Consul General) is not related to a completely different story of the citizen of Kazakhstan. Remember, she got a visa: the do­cuments, that had been provided, proved to be enough for obtaining a visa. In Lithuania, the border guards did not allow entry, they had their own arguments» Valdas Burneika said.
In March, Sputnik Kazakhstan wrote about the Kazakh family, which, upon arrival in Lithuania, was detained by the border guards. The family members spent 16 hours in the cell of the Vilnius airport, and then they were expelled. They say they lost hundreds of thousands of tenge (i.e. several thousand dollars) because of the trip interruption. An employee at the office of Lithuania’s Consulate General in Almaty explained that documents of the Kazakh tourists were all in order, and they can appeal the decision by the Lithuanian border service to the Vilnius court, hiring a Lithuanian lawyer for this purpose.
One of the affected family members, Adilya Yusupova, wrote a complaint and sent it to the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, Kazakhstan’s MFA stated that the reason for the expulsion of Kazakhstanis was an «illegal migration threat».
One year has elapsed since the incident at the Vilnius Airport took place. It has – to our knowledge – received virtually no attention from the European mainstream human rights community. And for all we know, it has carried no implications for Lithuania.
Kazakhstan’s MFA stated that the reason for the expulsion of Kazakhstanis was an «illegal migration threat». It can be assumed that such a comment has been received from the Lithuanian authorities on this matter. However, it is worth pointing out that this explanation should not be taken seriously. According to Article #11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, and measures of restraint should not be applied proactively to him. Apart from anything else, those citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan have suffered from material and moral damages. Who must be held accountable for them? It is a very strange situation, to say the least.
We have questions for the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How that is compatible with the Constitution of our nation, which guarantees Kazakhstanis the rights to be protected by the State in the enjoyment of life, honor, liberty, security, work and property, including the diplomatic protection of its citizens abroad?
Kazakhstan’s citizens were subjected to ill-treatment by the authorities of Lithuania, a country which has hundreds of its citizens living and holding highly qualified and high-paying jobs in Astana and Almaty. Why didn’t Kazakhstan’s MFA take measures in defense of its citizens?
We also have questions for the authorities of Lithuania and the European Union. What exactly did the affected Kazakh family members do so bad it made the Lithuanian border service detain and expel them without any explanation? Why were they so rudely treated? What, if the Kazakh border service did the same to your citizens? Human rights must be respected anywhere.